Where's The Big Idea?

摘要

'South street philadelphia is derelict and dilapidated but, if these architects have their way, you will see, rising from the ruins .. .'This was the opening sentence of a 1968 news report describing a plan for a low-income community. The reporter could not imagine that we might design anything other than tower blocks soaring over cleared land, and expected us to fit into her preconception of our vision. Like many in urban Europe and America, she was swept away by Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse. Combining social observation, architectural prediction and an ideal, this image of cloud-searching high-rises, wide picture windows, roof terraces overlooking parkland and small aircraft joyriding above had seduced architects recovering from the First World War and tugged again at the imagination of their descendants as they renewed cities in the 1950s and 60s.